Imagine the Horror of a One Way Wolf Blitzer Freaky Friday

The elections are over, and whether you feel good, bad, or indifferent about the results, one thing’s for sure: CNN’s Wolf Blitzer is a maniac.

Now, Wolf, I know you’re reading, so let me say that I mean that in the best possible way. You’re a breaking-news machine, an ever-flowing faucet of monotone facts. One thing I never took you for, though, was a short-film subject. I was mistaken.

Written, directed, and edited by Jared Neumarkand produced by Diana Clark and Kate Erickson, One Way Wolf Blitzer Freaky Friday is exactly what it sounds like: a tale of one man (Matt Hobby) who’s been occupied by the soul of Wolf, and his girlfriend’s (Mary Grill) struggle to reclaim him for all time.

Now, you may be thinking, This sounds silly, and you wouldn’t be wrong.

What makes this short feature-worthy, though, is its unwavering and grounded commitment to a completely unrelatable, ridiculous premise. It’s memorable. Second — and maybe even more importantly — it’s short and, thus, programmable.

Strong production value, solid performances, and worthy writing are prerequisites for a festival birth, of course, but one element that’s often overlooked is length.

Even a reasonable 18-minuter is usually getting the ax at highly competitive fests like L.A. Comedy Fest (where Wolf premiered in 2017) because it’s taking up too much real estate. Creating a world is hard enough in any amount of time, but doing so in nine minutes, while also plotting out a character arc that entertains, is noteworthy. So, we’re noting it.